Happy Monday and welcome to another edition of things that got me through the month! These are, as I’m sure you know, my favorite newsletters to write, so I’ll waste no time on an introduction.
Ska — I sort of forget about this musical genre most of the time, but every time I hear a ska song, I can’t help but dance in my seat. I always thought it was just pop-punk music with a brass section, but I learned this month that it’s actually more complicated than that! According to Wikipedia, ska originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s by combining elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off beat. This song was a great early-April mood-booster for before the sun came out and the weather got warm (it also happens to be my husband’s best friend’s favorite song, give it a listen). It’s impossible to be in a bad mood with such groovy tunes!
Warm weather — I’d be remiss if I didn’t pay homage to the increasing temperatures and sunny skies. We had one week this month that reached over 70º every single day and god, if it didn’t give me hope. It got cold and rainy immediately thereafter, but at least now I know in my heart that it can be warm. I personally think I prefer a gradual warm to the random hot and plunge back into cold that we had, but I’ll take what I can get. Over a week later and I’m still trying to hang onto the high of wearing shorts outside. Every time the sun comes out, I’m amazed at how much better it feels just to be alive in general.
Yard work & garden prep — In the same vein of nice weather, I was able to get some good outdoor work done during the one warm week we had. I helped (generous term) Chris pull mint plants out of our front yard, which someone else planted before we bought the house and we have since learned is considered slightly invasive in our growing zone. So we pulled that out and redid some of the borders around the garden beds while we were at it. We still haven’t mowed the lawn in preparation for no-mow May, and we’re finally getting some dandelions popping up! I also prepped a pollinator garden, which will grow flowers that the bees and butterflies love, as well as a rain garden in an area of our yard that slopes downward, which will grow native plants (many of them medicinal herbs!) that will help absorb rainfall and keep our yard from eroding (and then I can use the flowers/leaves for tea!). Chris and I also set up our rain barrel just in time for a rainy week, and I finally started seedlings inside that I will be replanting to my vegetable garden just as soon as I finish (read: start) making the new raised garden bed I want for this year. Some of my houseplants were looking a little sad, so I took the opportunity to re-pot them and they all seem to be feeling much better now! I feel like Better Homes & Gardens personified and honestly I’m having a blast. Next on the list is planting a cherry tree in the front yard and maybe a lilac bush. Tune in next month to see if those things happen for us!
Bread-making — Call me Martha freaking Stewart because I have been thriving in the home-making department this month (stay tuned for a baking vlog hopefully next month). My grandpa gave me a sourdough starter by way of my mom, and I’ve made a few loaves of bread and a couple of varieties of muffins that I need to make again soon. Everything has turned out edible and I think I’m on my way to perfecting my bread recipe (hint: you actually should measure the amount of salt; undersalted bread is very bland). I don’t even remember the last time I bought bread from the store. Probably just in March, but it feels like longer. The only problem with combining numbers 3 and 4 on this list is that I now have the delusional idea that I could happily survive off the grid, baking and gardening in a linen dress and flour-covered apron, heating my house with a wood-burning stove, collecting eggs from my chickens in the mornings, and reading by candlelight in the evenings.
The cats next door — My next-door neighbor has cats that occasionally come outside with her, especially when the weather is nice. One of them likes to lie in the taller patches of grass in our front yard and treat themself to a nice green snack, which is funny to watch. The living room windows of our two houses line up with one another, and Friday has been having fun watching the neighbor cats both inside and out, and sometimes when the neighbor’s curtain is closed, Friday gets sad and calls out to the kitties to come back. It’s really sweet and simultaneously heart-breaking to see her calling out to her friends who can’t hear her through two closed windows. She likes them best at a distance though; one tried to sit on our outside window ledge and Friday ran over and swatted at him through the screen until he jumped down.
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